The invention relates to an apparatus for discharging hot air generated by an internal combustion engine from the engine compartment of a motor vehicle which includes front quarter panels extending along the sides of the engine compartment and inner fenders providing front wheel wells.
Engine compartments of motor vehicles are being closed in to an increasing extent to reduce external noise. Thus, air discharge openings which were previously available (e.g. engine bonnet or hood gaps) no longer exist.
Additional ducts are often installed to discharge the hot air produced in the engine compartment. These ducts may have outlets which lie in a reduced pressure region, so that the air is drawn or sucked out to the surroundings. Consequently a relatively small cross-section is sufficient, which in turn contributes toward noise reduction. However, such additional ducts are expensive and lead to extra weight.
From German Patent Specification No. 840,657 is is also already known to provide, under the engine hood, air guide plates serving to guide the hot air to air outlet openings in a region of a side wall of the vehicle body where a reduced pressure zone is formed. In such an arrangement it is disadvantageous to permit the hot air to leave the engine compartment only at a determined point in the length of the vehicle. Further, the recessed side wall zone and the gill-like outlet apertures would have an optically disturbing effect in many types of vehicle.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to discharge hot air through passages already existing in the vehicle so that the hot air can leave the engine compartment at a plurality of points in the length of the vehicle. It is a further object of the invention to permit the hot air to pass out to the atmosphere through concealed outlet openings.
According to the present invention the hot air discharge problem is solved since air inlet apertures are provided in the region of the engine compartment leading into a cavity or duct defined by an arcuate wheel well panel, a front quarter panel and a wheel well roof, and since this cavity is in communication with air outlet apertures lying in the region of a front vertical door gap and disposed substantially in a transverse plane of the vehicle.
In the case of sports cars having higher engine power it may be advantageous, as a development of the invention, to provide additional air outlet apertures in the outer skin of the quarter panel or of ancillary outer fender panels disposed in that region. In such vehicles visible air outlet apertures could also be regarded as stylistically attractive.
The invention may best be understood by reference to the following description of a preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawing.